Sally Dixon

Dr Sally Dixon is a Senior Lecturer at the University of New England (UNE), affiliated with the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Her work bridges sociolinguistics, descriptive linguistics, and education, focusing on language contact, multilingualism, and minoritized language varieties. She has contributed to language documentation projects, such as the Aboriginal Child Language Acquisition study in Central Australia, and revitalization efforts for Pilbara languages. Her research emphasizes the intersection of language and social inclusion, particularly for Indigenous communities.

Education:

• BA Hons Linguistics (UNSW)
• BSc Psychology (UNSW)
• GradCert in Linguistics and Language Endangerment Studies (Monash)
• PhD Linguistics (ANU)

Research Interests:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language ecologies
• Sydney Aboriginal English
• Contact languages and multilingual repertoires
• Child language acquisition in multilingual contexts
• Language revitalization and education policy

Publications and Research: Sally’s work spans peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and community-focused language resources. Recent trends include analyzing contact languages like Alyawarr English and advocating for equitable language policies in education. Her research often employs variationist methodologies and emphasizes applied outcomes for Indigenous communities.

Awards:

• ARC CoEDL Language Documentation Grant (2019)
• Susan Kaldor Travel Grant (2010)
• Mar Prize for Linguistics (2004)

Advising and Grants: She supervises Higher Degree Research students in sociolinguistics and language revitalization. Her grants include ARC funding for language ecology projects and community-based documentation initiatives.

Labs/Teams: Collaborates with the Aboriginal Child Language Acquisition project and the Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (CoEDL). Previously, she worked with Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre to document endangered languages.